P17-Cric 2 Layout 1
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015 Ageless Dilshan to remain Sri Lanka’s guiding light MUMBAI: The pressure will be on former cap- hundred-run stands between them. Johnson found out to his cost when the Sri will have to discuss with my captain and the Dilshan, also a former skipper, gave up tain Tillakaratne Dilshan to continue to play a Sangakkara’s solid batting technique is in Lankan hit him for six fours in an over. team management what my future role in the playing tests two years back to make room for pivotal role for Sri Lanka when he loses his sharp contrast to the more dashing, innova- While the 37-year-old Sangakkara leads team will be. younger players in the side and will not hesi- prolific batting partner after the World Cup. tive Dilshan. The contrasting styles only the table of run-getters at the ongoing World “If they think that I have a role to play I will tate doing it again in other formats when he Kumar Sangakkara, the second highest swelling the problems for an opposition cap- Cup with four consecutive centuries, Dilshan continue to represent my country. With my feels the time is right. run-getter in one-day internationals behind tain, who also has to contend with the left- is not too far behind with two hundreds and a present form and fitness I guess I can easily “I will do the same in the other two formats Sachin Tendulkar, will retire from the 50-over right combination when setting a field fifty and is fourth on the list. And with Mahela play for another two-three years, even till the also if I think I am not good enough to be in format after the tournament leaving a huge against them. Jayawardene also set to retire from all formats next World Cup in 2019.” At 38, Dilshan still the side,” he said. “I haven’t taken that decision hole in Sri Lanka’s batting lineup. Opening Dilshan, who is famous for his ‘Dilscoop’, a after the World Cup, Dilshan knows he will be remains one of Sri Lanka’s best fielders and is yet because two key players are retiring from batsman Dilshan and number three shot he plays by going down on one knee to the guiding light for Sri Lanka’s young bats- also a very useful off-spinner. ODI cricket and I believe my experience will Sangakkara added 210 runs against hit the bowler over the wicketkeeper’s head, men going forward. The absence of Sangakkara and be valuable to the captain and the team in the Bangladesh, 130 versus co-hosts Australia and mixes power with bat speed. “My ambition is to continue playing ODI Jayawardene in the team after the World Cup two formats. “We have problems with open- 195 against minnows Scotland and are the He can smack boundaries with minimum and T20 cricket,” Dilshan said during the early will also mean that he will be the only go-to ers. If I can help them fill that void using my second most successful pair in ODIs with 20 footwork, as Australian fast bowler Mitchell weeks of the World Cup. “After the World Cup I man for young captain Angelo Mathews. experience I will quit.”—Reuters Sri Lanka want Sangakkara to play on SYDNEY: Kumar Sangakkara is working as hard to improve his game in his final one-day tour- nament as he did when he first broke into the Sri Lanka team a decade and a half ago, said chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya. Sangakkara’s form at the World Cup has been little short of sensational and is a big part of Sri Lanka’s run to the quarter-finals, where they will meet South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground tomorrow. Unsurprisingly, Jayasuriya would like him to continue beyond the current tournament, after which the 37-year-old plans to retire from the 50-over format. In Sri Lanka’s last pool match against Scotland, the elegant lefthander became the first batsman to score centuries in four succes- sive one-day internationals and secured the World Cup record for most dismissals by a wick- etkeeper. HAMILTON: NewZealand’s Tim Southee (left) and Daniel Vettori (right) leave the field “Unbelievable,” Jayasuriya told reporters at in this file photo. —AFP the SCG on Monday. “It’s one of the rarest things you can see, him playing four in a row. I’m lucky to be here to watch all four innings. “I’m very happy and what I want, as chair- NZ won’t curb man of selectors, is for him to continue his form right throughout the World Cup.” Described by Australia captain Michael aggressive game Clarke as one of, if not, the greatest ever bats- men, Sangakkara earlier in the tournament became only the second player behind Sachin WELLINGTON: New Zealand will not be freedom, and play with that and go into Tendulkar to score 14,000 ODI runs. While shelving the aggressive game that has tak- those high pressure situations and express Sangakkara has been resolute about his deci- en them through the pool stage at the our skills. sion to retire from ODIs, Jayasuriya believed he World Cup unbeaten despite the stakes “This is a one-off game and we need to still had plenty of batting left in him and was now being that much higher in the knock- play with that freedom and sort of calm hoping for a change of heart. out rounds, batsman Kane Williamson said aggression, I suppose.” “We’ve got a lot of “I would love him to keep playing. He can go yesterday. match winners and everyone’s looking for- on longer. It all depends on him,” the 1996 The co-hosts will enter Saturday’s quar- ward to this game.” World Cup winner said. “The way he’s playing is ter-final in Wellington as raging favourites New Zealand have played all of their really good. It’s confidence for the boys also to beat West Indies having notched six matches on home soil and are guaranteed and all the players are playing really well too. straight wins from their pool matches. a home semi-final if they can get past West “Since he came into the side in 2000 he has Led by hard-hitting skipper Brendon Indies. been working really hard, his keeping, his bat- McCullum, New Zealand’s batsmen have The Black Caps played arguably their ting and he wants to improve his game every battered bowlers the length and breadth of worst pool match in their last game against day. “That’s what he he’s doing even when he’s the country while their best seamers have Bangladesh on Friday, needing until the playing his last one-day series. He’s doing his bowled most of their overs early in penultimate over to reel in their opponents’ best all the time, he’s doing his basics right and blitzkrieg attacks to unsettle sides. 288-7 and secure a tight three-wicket win. he wants to do well in the middle.” Pundits have questioned whether the “It was nice to get a win over Bangladesh “I would love him to carry on for another few strategy is sustainable when the pressure is and chase down a big total,” Williamson years, the way he’s playing ... It’s all in his on during the knock-out stages but said. “I suppose it was in slightly scrappy hands.” Tomorrow, it is South Africa’s bowlers Williamson could see no change to their fashion, but I guess that’s also a positive for who will have the unenviable task of bringing approach. us. “We’ve played six games in pool play an end to Sangakkara’s purple patch with the “I think it is important that you are and every game has been very different, so bat. South Africa coach Russell Domingo con- relaxed and calm and play with that free- I suppose it’s nice to have all those experi- fessed they had been partly looking in hope to dom,” the Tauranga-born 24-year-old told ences going into this quarter-final match. the law of averages ahead of the quarter-final reporters in Wellington. “When you do, you “Going through the pool stages, playing in Sydney. play your best cricket. We’re looking to do some good cricket, everything starts again. “He’s in the form of his life,” Domingo said. that in this next game. “Anything in the past is quickly forgot- “He’s got four hundreds and you’ve got to think “It’s important that we look at it with the ten.”—Reuters that there’s a lower score just around the cor- AUSTRALIA: Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara plays a shot at the Bellerive Oval ground ner.” —Reuters during the 2015 Cricket World Cup. —AFP Centuries set ton of Windies confident Mahmudullah records in World Cup finds form at perfect ADELAIDE: The opening round of the South Africa had five, India saw four and of Gayle fitness time for B’desh World Cup witnessed 35 centuries com- the West Indies and Australia, three each. pared to just six in the entire 1975 tourna- Batsmen from Bangladesh had two WELLINGTON: West Indies believe Chris Obviously, he’s a key player for us, and his MELBOURNE: It’s been a long time coming but ment, seemingly proving once and for all (both by Mahmudullah) so did eliminated Gayle will have a major impact on fitness is key going into the quarter-final,” Mohammad Mahmudullah is finally fulfilling his prom- that one-day cricket is a batsman’s game.